art, design, diy, girly, home, home decor

childhood home takeover vol.1

Bedroom Before and After

This past June I packed up my beloved Redondo condo and moved to my childhood home in Torrance. It’s hard to believe that a single (then 31-year-old) gal could need more space than the condo provided but when your hobbies require table saws and things of that nature you quickly start feeling cramped in a 900 square foot dwelling. I now have a 4 bedroom home to play with…oh the possibilities! I have so so many ideas and plans…where to begin? I made the obvious choice. The bedroom. First, I had to decide which room I was going to sleep in. You would think that the master would be a no brainer…but did I mention I have a lot of craft supplies?? I opted to make the master my office/work space and take my brothers childhood room as my own. It’s west facing so it receives great light. It’s actually been occupied by guests for the past umpteen years, so don’t be alarmed when you see floral wallpaper border…not that there’s anything wrong with that lol. My mom was way into wallpaper, as you’ll see in many of my “before” pics. It’s actually a skill I’m rather grateful she has…I love me some wallpaper as well…it’s back guys!

Here’s what I was working with

You’re looking at 30 year old carpet…yikes.

Step One: Strip the carpet, remove baseboards, and patch holes.

Step Two: Remove wallpaper.

Step Three: Pick out wall color. This is the hardest part! I mean…look at all the options!

Picking paint is tricky…it never looks like the sample, it’s always way darker on the wall than it is on the little paint chip…when it’s covering a large area it can be overwhelming. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way! I would usually sample a bunch of colors on the wall and see which works best with the flooring/furniture but in this case, the walls were my jumping off point. I had a blue sheet that was exactly the color I wanted. I hung it on the wall for a while to make sure I liked it with the natural lighting in the room. Once I decided to pull the trigger I brought the sheet to Lowes with me and matched it to the samples. I found a perfect match! Olympic B56-4 Aqua Blue.

Lucky me…I have the most helpful friends! Jess came over and helped me paint!

Step Four: Laying the wood flooring. Boy…I thought picking paint was hard…installing flooring is worse! I think my body ached for two weeks after this process!

Step Five: Baseboards and decorative mouldings. I picked the baseboards I wanted and found that they offered them in a contractors pack…it saves money to buy it that way! They have the pack in both 8 and 12 feet but I opted for the 12 so I would have less cuts/seams…downside was I had to drive with them hanging out of the back of my car!

You wouldn’t believe the impact new baseboards make….look at the before and after!

In addition to the baseboards I wanted to add decorative mouldings to the wall. For very little money, it adds a sophistication to the room. I needed a miter saw and nail gun for this project.

Step Six: Furniture

I’m using most of my existing furniture from the condo.

Bed: custom from The American Iron Bed Company

Bedding: Pottery Barn

Bedside Table: Home Goods

Bedside lamp: Home Goods

Reading chair: Home Goods

Ottoman: Target

Reading Lamp: Ikea

Desk Chair: Ikea

Desk and Chest: I got these from a furniture builder in Redondo Beach who has since gone out of business. They were both white (shabby chic). The desk was painted green and I painted the chest and orangy/red…Sunset Skyline to be exact (from Lowes)

Step Seven: Decorating! The best part. Here are a few details that went into the room.

Curtains: They are actually shower curtains from Anthropologie…I had a 20% off coupon. Using shower curtains saved a lot of money, window coverings can get really expensive!

Rug: Ikea

Lanterns: Anthropologie…Clearance! $148 down to $34.95!!

Antlers: DIY…I got these at the Rose Bowl Flea Market and covered them with fabric.

Books: Ebay

Vases: Anthropologie (Christmas present from my Best Friend Kelly)

Prints: Moonrise Kingdom Sam and Suzy Prints from Etsy (Christmas Present from my BFF Andy)

Finished Product

Ooh La Loo!

art, Style, tattoos

ink!

When I was 17 I got my belly button pierced. Immediately after the guy was finished I ran out to the street and threw up. Then, at 19 I got my nose pierced…I ran to the bathroom to get water and woke up sitting on the floor in the corner of the bathroom. Apparently I had passed out! My sister in law was with me…but didn’t notice because she was busy getting her nose pierced too. All this to say. I don’t do well with needles. I had wanted a tattoo ever since high school but never thought I’d ever be able to handle the pain. So when I finally mustered up the courage to get it done…I told NOBODY! Ok…that’s a lie. I told Kelly because I needed someone to drive me home in case there was an “incident.” I knew Kell wouldn’t judge me if I chickened out, and she is my number one cheerleader. She’d tell me it was pretty even if it looked like poop…and I needed that juuuuust in case it didn’t turn out well! I also didn’t want to be talked out of it. I waited to tell Andy and Krisi, who I spent the whole morning with that day, until just minutes before the appointment. Andy offered to come for emotional support. Love her. BTW I think Andy is a part of every single entry I have posted!

Here we are at the fabric district in downtown LA.

And here folks is the last picture of my bare left arm.

Here I am having a little pre-session chat with Kim Saigh. She was on LA ink for a couple seasons and I fell in love with not only her artwork, but her drama free work ethic. I knew she was going to cost more than the average artist…but is something so permanent something you go cheap on? Absolutely not.

Well friends. Let me tell you. IT DID NOT GO WELL. About 15 minutes into the session, Kim asked me how I was doing and I said I was feeling a little light headed. She went to get me water and I made a dash for the bathroom.

A few minutes later I woke up here…

The last thing I remember was grabbing the door frame in slow motion. I fell and hit my face on the wood chair and hit the back of my head on the tile. The next thing I remember was a really cute bearded Brenden, the other artist working that day, holding my head in his hands. Not a bad thing to wake up to. As I mentioned earlier…Kelly was on call in case of an “incident.” She met Andy and I at the shop and drove me home. I threw up on the car ride home and stayed overnight with Kelly in case I didn’t make it through the night! I was SOO scared to go to sleep but google said that it’s actually a myth and that your body needs to sleep to heal. Who knows!? Kelly would wake up and make sure I was breathing throughout the night. Not only did I wake up…I woke up with a shiner! It got darker and darker each day.

It was all worth it. I got a bad ass tattoo. Here it is!

hahaha! Oh man. Needless to say, I didn’t show this to anybody! I kept it a secret until I had something I would be really proud to show off. I had this masterpiece for about a week. Kim fit me into her jam packed sched so I could look halfway decent again! I realized that it wasn’t about the pain (which was horrible), it was nerves. I was too nervous to tell her that the peony she selected wasn’t my absolute fave. This probably wasn’t the best time to be accommodating…I should have been straight forward instead of getting myself worked up and passing out! SO I brought a peony I liked better and she had no problem changing the design.

peony flower

…and back to work we went. Please note that she has me on a table this time! No more passing out….or hitting the floor at least.

BIG thanks to Eric who I called in a panic minutes before this session and asked him to come to an address with absolutely no explanation. I think he thought I was in trouble! lol.

Here are some work in progress pics…

This was the first thing I saw. I refused to watch because I was scared I’d faint…but when it was time for a potty break I got a peak and was completely astonished. I loved it.